gibson



(No Model.)

0. J. GIBSON.

LAWN MOWER.

No. 263,506. Patented Aug. 29, 1882.

INVENTOR 45);. BY M ATTORNEYS.

ENHEE STATES PATENT @EEiQE.

CHARLES J. GIBSON, F BERGEN POINT, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO CARR & HOBSON, (LIMITED,) OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LAWN-MOWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 263,506, dated August 29, 1882.

Application filed March 23, 1882. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES J. GIBSON, of Bergen Point, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Lawn-Mower, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of lawn-mowers having spirally-arranged cutters revolving about a horizontal 1o axis; and it consists in the peculiar construction of the mechanism for driving said cutters and its arrangement with respect to the frame, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying I5 drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a partial sectional plan view of a lawn-mower made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevationof the same, taken on the line 00a; of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the clutch or dog removed from the machine. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of the journal-box, taken on the line y 3 of Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the box, taken on the line a z of Fig. 4'; and Fig. 6 is a detailed partial sectional plan view of the handle and handle-bars of my improved lawn- IHOWGI'.

0 The side pieces, A A, of the frame of the machine, the revolving cutter B and its shaft 0,

and the stationary knife H are of the ordinary form and construction, and the driving drums or wheels D D, are placed loosely upon the axle fin the ordinary manner, and the side plate, G, which is secured by the screw-bolts a i to the outside of the side plate, A, for inclosing the gear-wheels, is formed with the hollow boss h, which receives the end of the axlef and 40 forms the journal for the main cog-wheel F in the ordinary manner.

E is the clutch-block or dog, which looks the driving drum or wheel D to the main cogwheel F upon the forward movement of the machine, but disengages the said cog-wheel and permits the free movement of the said drum or wheel D upon the backward movement of the machine; and this dog or block is carried in the way 0, forward in this instance, by the lips c 0, cast upon the head a of the drum or wheel D, and is made positively acting by the formation and relative position of the concentric ratchets d 61, formed upon the inner face of the said main cog-wheel F, with which ratchets the dog or clutch-block E engages for lockin g the drum and said cog-wheel together. The side frame, A, is perforated about the axle f to allowthe head cofdrum D to pro'trudethrough, and thus bring the dog E into the plane of wheel F. The dog or clutch-block E is a plain 6o block of steel beveled off at its ends, as shown at it" in Fig. 3, and is of a length a little greater than the distance the teeth of the ratchet d are from those of the ratchet d, and the teeth of the said ratchets are so made that their square 65 or right-lined faces come on the same side of the teeth in both the outer ratchets, d, and inner ratchets, d, but are upon different radii of the cog-wheel, so that the inclined rear faces of the teeth of the ratchets, when the machine has backward movement, act alternately, like cams, upon the beveled ends of the dog E and move it from side to side in the way 0, thus causing it 'to slide past the teeth of the ratchets, leaving the drive wheel or drum D and the cog-wheel F free to turn in opposite directions,

or the drivingdrum to remain at rest and the cog-wheel to revolve. This side-to-side movement of the dog E also keeps it at all times in position for engagement with the square face of'the teeth of one ratchet or the other upon the reverse or forward movement of the machine.

G Gare thehandle-bars of the mower, which are of metal and secured to the side plates, A A, by the rod g in the ordinary manner, and G is the wooden handle. The outer ends of the handle-bars G are formed with the shank 71. upon which the handle G is placed, and at the lower part'of the shank is formed the shoulo der it, against which the handle Gr rests, as shown in Fig.6. The outer ends of the shanks k are screw-threaded, and adapted to receive the rounded screw-cap ]L2 for securing the handle in place upon the shanks and for adapting 5 the handle to be removed from the handle-bars when desired.

J J represent the journal-boxes of the cutter-shaft O, which are made of the two segments jj, which are adapted to have the strips it k, of wood, rubber, or other Similar material, placed between them, as shown in Figs. 4. and

5, which will permit the parts jj of the boxes to be adjusted for taking up the wear of the boxes and shaft.

It will be understood that although I have shown in the drawings my intention applied toamower having" two driving wheels ordrums, the invention thus far described is applicable as well to mowers having butone driving wheel or drum. In case two drums are used, as in the drawings, the inner side face of the drum D will be recessed, as shown at L in Fig. 1, and in this recesswill be formed the concentric ratchets p p, precisely similar in construction to the ratchets d (1, already described, and the adjacent face of the drum D will be formed with the lips q for holding the dog or clutchblock E, which serves to lock the drums D D together u pon the forward movement of the machine, and to permit independent backward movement of the same, as in the case of the drum 1) and co g-wheel F, full y described above. The forward movement of the main cog-wheel F is communicated to the cutting shaft 0 through the cog-wheels N and 0 in the ordinary manner.

'ith respect to the positively-acting, clutch, I would state that I have made it the subjectmatter of a separate application, and I therefore only claim it in its special combination with the coacting parts of the lawn-mower as specially adapted to receive it, and which embodiment of the clutch in the lawn-mower not only avoids the use of all springs, but causes the cutting-blades of the mower to respond quickly to the forward movement of the machine.

Having thus described my invention,Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, in a lawn-mower, ol' the axle f, the drum D, having head 0, carrying ways 0 c and dog E, the wheel F, having the double set of ratchet-teeth d and d, the side frame, A, having an opening to receive head 0, and located between the wheel F and the drum 1), the outer case Gr, having sleeve 71, the cutter, and the connecting-gears, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, in a lawn-mower, of the shaft or aXisf, the loose drum I), having ways q and dog E, and the loose drum 1), having recess L, with teeth pp, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES J. GIBSON.

Witnesses:

H. A. NEST, O. SEDGWIOK. 

